If not Saddam, then no one

The hanging of Saddam Hussein drew such immediate and strong censure from the Vatican that it makes us wonder if Church teaching on capital punishment has to be amended -- again.

Executing someone "is not the way to restore justice and reconcile society," said Father Federico Lombardi, the Jesuit spokesman for the Vatican. An "execution is always tragic news, a motive for sadness."

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said the Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty is based on its recognition of every human life as a gift of God, even Hussein's.

The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, called the execution of Hussein "another example of the violation of the most basic human rights."

The death of Hussein was the first test-case of the Church's revised teaching on capital punishment. For centuries, that teaching permitted the death penalty. But, several years ago, Pope John Paul II began speaking out strongly against executions, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church was changed to reflect his comments.

The Catechism now states that "the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude...recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor. If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they...are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.

"Today, in fact, given the means at the state's disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it,...cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender...are [quoting John Paul] 'very rare, if not practically non-existent.'"

Hussein murdered hundreds of thousands of people and would have resumed doing so had he been freed by his supporters, a distinct possibility in volatile Iraq.

If Hussein did not deserve to be executed, the Catechism should be revised again, this time to oppose capital punishment with no loopholes or exceptions.

(1/11/07) [[In-content Ad]]